General Choi Hong Hi was born on November 9th, 1918, in the Hwa Dae Myong Chun District of Korea.

At the age of fourteen, his father, worried about his fragile health and body condition, sent young Choi with a famous Korean Master, to study Calligraphy and Taek Kyon, an ancient Korean method of fighting with the feet.  Later, when he was studying in Japan, he started to learn Karate in a Japanese University; earning his first degree Black Belt in less than two years. He then intensified his training, striving to earn his second degree. Around the same time, he started teaching Karate.

Conscripted into the Japanese army during World War II, he was posted to Pyongyang where he led a revolt against the Japanese, and was imprisoned. Wanting to maintain his good physical and mental health during his imprisonment, he practiced Karate. Alone at first, then by teaching it to the staff of the prison and the other prisoners.

Becoming an officer in the new Korean Army after the end of the war, he continued to teach his martial art to his soldiers as well as to American soldiers serving in Korea. Eventually, years later, every soldier in the Korean Army was trained in Taekwon-Do.

His beliefs and his vision of a different approach to teaching martial arts led General Choi to combine elements of Taek Kyon and Karate techniques to develop a modern martial art. He called it Tae Kwon Do, which means "the way of the feet and the hands." This name was officially adopted on April 11th, 1955.

In 1959, General Choi was named President of the Korean Taekwon-Do Association. Seven years later, on March 22nd,1966, he created the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). As the Founder of Taekwon-Do and President of the ITF, he had the ability to share his art with students everywhere. Today, Taekwon-Do training is available around the world.

After a life dedicated to the development of Taekwon-Do, a modern martial art based on traditional values, philosophy, and training, General Choi, founder of Taekwon-Do and President of the International Taekwon-Do Federation, died of cancer on June 15th, 2002, in the country of his birth.

"The Little Giant," General Choi Hong Hi, created Taekwon-Do and developed it as the world-famous martial art in decades of devotion. Being a founding member of the South Korean Armed Forces, and the foremost calligrapher of his time, he was at the front of the movement for Korean Unification. He left us his LEGACY: Taekwon-Do!